Better Friends and Lovers: Interludes

Owe It All To You

Author’s Note: Dedicated to Maxiecat, who requested a story where Brian takes more of a lead, and to Chadmom, a story with a Valentine’s Day theme, and lastly, to Patrick Swayze, for all of the wonderful performances he has given us, may he stay strong in his fight against cancer. My thanks to Thyme for her great beta job and to Germansoulmate, for the wonderful picture.

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(Setting: February 14-17, 2008, New York City)

The buzzer to the apartment was insistent. Danny just rolled over and burrowed deeper under the covers. I debated ignoring it but it was coming from the upper landing, which meant it was from someone who had access from the street. Most likely one of his younger relatives or Hunter.

I ran my hand along his flank and caressed his bare ass, trying to get him to wake. No luck. He nestled a little bit closer to me, his body instinctively moving toward mine, but he was out for the count.

If it were just up to me, I’d let whoever it was press the button till his finger froze off. Eventually he’d give up and head home, which in all decency he should have done by now, instead of ringing the buzzer, off and on, for a good three minutes. But, Danny would want me to check and make sure it wasn’t one of the younger O’Keefes needing rescue from whatever trauma life in the Big Apple had brought. For some reason, Danny being in residence in his NYC apartment meant he was on duty for nursemaid service to all the half-grown rugrats from Pittsburgh.

Grumbling, I got up and walked from the bedroom through the small living room to the entranceway. For a Soho apartment, this was spacious, I realized, but I was pretty confident I could fit the whole five room place into half of my loft. Easily.

“Alright, I’m coming, stop leaning on the fucking buzzer,” I called through the door. Silence greeted me as I reached it. Finally. Just to be safe, considering the kind of nutcases Danny seemed to attract, I took the precaution of looking through the peephole. Damn, his niece, Julie, was the one standing there shivering. Looking in pretty bad shape too.

“Hang on a sec,” I called, unlatching the door and wishing I’d stopped to grab some pants. The last time Julie had seen me in the buff she’d screamed in three octaves. I hoped a year and a half in college had hardened her to the sight of male flesh.

“Close your eyes,” I warned as I opened the door. She was half-way in before she realized my lack of clothing.

“Thanks, Brian. I’m so sorry...Oh!” Her eyes widened as she did a double-take but at least she didn’t scream. She looked at a point over my shoulder, blushing deep red. “Isn’t Danny here? Oh my God, you two were probably...I should go.”

She’d clearly been crying, still was actually, but making a pretty decent effort at hiding it. I pushed her, gently, into a chair, and grabbed a throw from the sofa to wrap around myself.

“Danny’s asleep but I’ll wake him up. Do you want me to fix you something first? Tea, coffee?” I hesitated to get her anything hard to drink but from the looks of her pale face and shaking hands, a shot of whiskey might be just what she needed.

“I shouldn’t be bothering you guys. I’m so sorry. It’s just that Johnny had mentioned earlier that Danny was going to be in town this week... I didn’t know you would be here too, Brian... I should have known... Valentine’s Day and all. Of course you’re here. You two...you love each other.” Her pretty face crumpled.

This was definitely something for Danny to handle. I was not good with weeping women with romance woes. I didn’t know which was worse. The fact that I was now someone who was presumed to make Valentine’s Day plans–or that I was someone who held conversations while wearing a knitted afghan like it was some kind of geriatric toga. I would have been more pissed at being woken up by what appeared to be a teenaged angst-fest, if one, I didn’t actually like Julie O’Keefe, and two, the kid didn’t seem too genuinely distraught for this to be a mere Valentine’s Day boyfriend/girlfriend snit. Looking at her closely and seeing no signs of intoxication or other substance abuse–her eyes were red from crying but otherwise normal looking– I deemed it safe to give her a real drink. Walking to the small bar, I poured each of us a glass of Jim Beam, hers on the rocks, and handed hers to her.

“Here. You need this and you need Danny,” I said firmly. “You sit right there and sip this to calm yourself down. I’ll get some pants on and wake up my sleeping beauty. Don’t you dare move from that chair. That’s an order. Whatever has you upset, Danny will be able to fix it, okay, beautiful?”

I got a smile. It was a weak effort, hardly a ghost of those O’Keefe dimples peeped out, but I had to give her points for the effort. Before I walked away, something made me drop a kiss on her curly head–the strong resemblance she had to Danny probably– but then again, as Cynthia says, I’ve always admired a person with spunk.

Back in the bedroom, I dropped the afghan at the base of the bed and crawled up to my lover. Bending over the head of dark hair so similar to the one I’d just kissed...only this one was atop a face and form much more to my taste....I moved my lips close to the curve of an exposed ear and took a moment to nuzzle the soft skin behind it. I kept it up until Danny’s breathing sped up.

“Bri? Morning already?” His voice was low and husky as he turned into my embrace, a slow smile already curving his lips. His arms came around my back to draw me closer. I sighed, wishing I could just crawl back under the covers with him. Instead, I pulled him up, bringing him away from the warmth of the bed to let the chill of the room finish waking him. He growled in protest.

“Nope, not morning, barely midnight. But there’s no rest for the weary tonight. We have company, young O’Keefe company. Rise and shine, kiddo.”

“Fuck, which of the br....” I cut off his words with another kiss, my hand holding his head in place as he swung his legs around the side of the bed. I’d closed the bedroom door but with the hearing these O’Keefes had, coupled with the thin walls of this old apartment, there was a good chance of Julie overhearing Danny complaining. He really wouldn’t want that–unlike some of his siblings’ children, all of whom he professed to love, he liked her. Hell, I liked her.

“What’s up?” he asked as soon as I broke the kiss. He was quick, my man.

“Julie’s out there and she’s fucking upset about something. Grab some pants and let’s get out there. I left her with my Jim Beam.”

He frowned but moved to the dresser for a pair of sweatpants quickly without wasting time on more questions. I grabbed him a pullover as well. I never felt the cold but he did. I’d learned soon after spending a lot of time with him that he kept his townhouse heated a good ten degrees warmer than I liked. His concession to living together was that the heat went down to where I wanted it but he insisted that it was my duty to ensure that he was warm enough. I’d agreed happily enough, thinking he meant doing so in a sexual way. There was that, true, but I soon found out that he literally got so caught up in work that he often didn’t pay attention when he was chilled, and I’d come home and find him at his piano with just sweat pants on, half frozen because he got a sudden inspiration while working out and he wouldn’t bother dressing before heading to his music room. Even under normal circumstances, he was too fucking absent minded to think to put enough clothes on if Emmett or I didn’t remind him. As Emmett pointed out, this was just one of the perks of living with him in warm weather when he didn’t risk pneumonia. In winter, Emmett kept jerseys and sweatshirts in every room to put on him.

It was part of the artist mentality, Danny claimed. His brother John contended it was just pure laziness and Emmett and I were enablers. If six year old Briana could be taught to dress sensibly, Danny should be able to put on a sweater, John argued. Somehow, I doubted it. He’d spent too many years with his mother and sisters taking care of the details of life for him to change now. Thank God for Emmett. My nurturing skills were sufficient to handle putting a sweatshirt on Danny so long as Emmett made sure nice clean, flattering ones were handy at all times. I shuddered to think how quickly I would fuck up my relationship without him around to smooth over the rough edges.

Danny paused by the bedroom door for me to pull the sweater over his head. He tipped his head up and kissed me again.

“I love you, mo gra`,” he whispered, his voice still husky with sleep.

“That works well, then, doesn’t it, as I’m rather fond of you?” Seeing his bare feet as he slipped out the door, I rolled my eyes and walked back to his dresser for some socks. Being a cold blooded bastard myself, it was rather ironic that fate placed the care of such a warm blooded creature as Danny O’Keefe into my hands. Well, mine and Emmett’s. Not that I was complaining.

Socks in hand, I went out to join uncle and niece.
 

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“So, he asked you to the big performance and party tomorrow night. Tonight was just a lead-in event to that, right?”

“Uh huh.”

Danny had Julie curled up against his side as they talked, one arm around her shoulders comfortingly, the other holding her hands in his lap. I’d tossed him the socks which he accepted with a grateful smile and he let go of her hands long enough to pull them on. I went on into the small kitchenette to make some coffee.

“Well, what happened to make you this upset? You were getting to be pretty good friends, weren’t you? I mean, you’ve mentioned him for awhile now. Isn’t he one of the models that Johnny knows?”

I had to admire Danny’s technique. He kept his deep voice matter of fact, but his inflections as much as his words conveyed the sense that whatever had happened, he knew that Julie was in the right, that it must have justified her reaction, and that she hadn’t been foolish but had been treated badly by someone who should have known better. This young man was known to a family member and had been her friend too–two things that should have made him trustworthy, so right there he took away one of the biggest concerns when one feels used–that you should have seen it coming somehow and avoided it. Danny was putting the blame where it belonged, on this jerk who dumped her tonight.

“We are friends...were friends...I don’t know what we are now. I always liked Chad a lot but he’s really popular at school. He’s one of the best dancers...better than Johnny, I think, although they always kind of competed.”

No comment from Danny there, very restrained of him. He’d been very good about helping his nephew Johnny repair bridges with Julie and Hunter after the kid had tried some nasty tricks of his own against Danny. Whether Danny had fully forgiven him was unclear. That was one topic I was not comfortable raising with him, since I’d been caught in the middle. Maybe Emmett knew.

“So this guy Chad, he’s your friend, and he’s kind of a friend of your cousin’s, although a competitive acquaintance sounds more like it. He goes to NYU with you, as opposed to Juilliard, and he also models for Dolce and Gabbana a little bit. He wasn’t in the fall show but he did some of the smaller print work if I recall correctly. You all hang out together, right? Do I have the cast straight, more or less?”

Danny glanced over at me. Yeah, I see it coming, I nodded at him. He heaved a bit of a sigh and pulled her closer.

“You really liked this Chad guy, huh? So, when he asked you out for this big weekend, you thought it was the change in your relationship that you’d been hoping for?”

Julie’s face was buried in Danny’s chest now but I didn’t need to hear what she said. I’d been down this road before. I wondered how much of it was like the Justin and Daphne situation, where two friends agree to take a big step together and then afterward, one of them makes more of it than it was. Except that maybe Justin should have realized that a girl doesn’t give up her virginity to a friend as a “practice” run. Of course Daphne had expected it to mean something to him. Why do straight girls think gay guys are going to fall in love with them? For all that she was nineteen, not seventeen, Julie still had a certain innocence to her. Maybe it came from spending so much time around male relatives, very large, over-protective male relatives, but I wasn’t sure how worldly she was. She certainly seemed to have been knocked for a loop by this guy. I mean, male dance major would be enough to make me check his credentials twice, but I’m old fashioned. Give me a guy in tights and I’ll give you a gai boi, nine times out of ten. And if the tenth one is hot, I could probably convince the tenth one to give it a try too. Danny might argue with me, but he knows, better than I do, that it’s true.

In fact, he seemed to have reached the same conclusion from his quiet questioning as I had from pure speculation. Just as I walked over with the coffeepot and some cups, he was tipping her chin up and gently asking,

“But you knew he was gay, right?”

She looked at him, green eyes wide, as she shook her head at him in shocked denial.

“Chad never told me he was gay, Uncle Danny! And why wouldn’t he? If he were, that is. I mean, I’m friends with more gay guys than straight!”

Bingo, I thought, but kept my mouth shut. Better that she figure it out for herself. Or not. It isn’t like it feels any better to be used for your connections to a lot of hot guys than for any other reason, like maybe the fact that your uncle is lead model with a top designer that passed you over last fall? Danny just continued to listen so I bided my time, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing.

“I mean, I wondered, because, well, like Johnny does, he flirts with everyone, but Chad was different. He never seemed to follow through on it or take it too far like Johnny does sometimes. He’s friendly to everyone and popular, but he didn’t date a lot. I knew him from music and dance classes. After rehearsals, we started to hang out. I got to know him pretty well but we’re always so busy, we used to joke about never having time for a social life. Then with working too...you remember what it was like. I worked for you last summer but I didn’t do the runway work that Johnny did. I think Chad was involved in some of that just not in the Dolce and Gabbana shows, you’re right about that. We bonded over that, actually, how we didn’t make the cut. I introduced him to Johnny last fall at one of the shoots and we all hung out sometimes but they didn’t particularly hit it off. Johnny was being kind of a jerk back then. Anyway, after the New Year, Chad started being a lot friendlier. I heard he broke up with his girlfriend back home....”

I handed her coffee and interrupted, figuring we’d be here all night if I didn’t. “Julie, Danny didn’t ask for the history of Chad the Cad. He asked if you knew he was gay. I take it you know now...right?”

She bit her lip.

Danny reached for his own cup and sipped it before answering. “Julie went with Chad to this pre-dance function at the college, which joins together with Juilliard for this big Valentine’s Day Charity event, the dance, voice and theater departments get together and they hold an event to raise money for charity. Tonight was the dress rehearsal. After their dance number, which did not go particularly well, Chad was rather curt. She then caught him backstage with one of the male dancers from Juillliard, thankfully, not her cousin, but another hotshot male dancer who fancies himself Johnny’s superior. The two of them were in a clinch together and Chad spoke rather disparagingly about Julie, both as a dancer and as a person. She then pretended to hurt her ankle opening the way for Chad the Cad to ask this other person to take her place. Eric is his name. Our cast has expanded. Chad felt he could do better with Eric, you see, even with only a day to prepare, than Chad could do with....”

“With a tall, ungainly cow that he had to haul around the stage, so I wanted to give him the chance,” Julie finished bitterly.

“So...the answer to my question is, no, we didn’t know until tonight that Chad was gay?” I was getting slightly irritated. This was not a difficult question.

Danny was trying to hold back a smile. “I think Julie doesn’t think that is the pertinent question. I know you think the world is easy to separate into gay and straight, Brian, but some of us don’t fit into such clear ‘either’ ‘or’ categories. I didn’t for years, at least not so anyone could tell. Julie tells me this guy never came on to men on campus, talked about his girlfriend back home, spent a lot of time with her....”

I rolled my eyes. Flopping down into the chair opposite the two O’Keefes, I asked Julie point blank, “Did he ever try getting into your pants?”

She pouted. “No. But that doesn’t mean anything. I heard them talking, Brian. I am too ugly and tall to be sexy to any man. I probably turn men gay.”

I looked back at Danny and lifted my glass of Beam. Point made.

“Don’t sit there looking so smug,” he argued. Feisty bugger. Must be the caffeine after midnight. “What does that prove? I always tried to get into everyone’s pants in college and I’m gay.”

“You are bi...and an exceptionally sexual person,” I told him. “For which I am grateful. But, we are not discussing you, we are discussing this prick who has jerked around lovely Julie...so he dropped her and kicked her out of the dance... is that what’s got your untouched panties in a bunch? That he replaced you with this guy? Though you really fell for that one yourself. I admit, his comments were pretty asinine of him. But you didn’t have to quit. What gives him the right to decide who stays in the program? ”

“No! I would have been angry but not hysterical. It was the way he did it and what they both said about me. I didn’t want to make someone partner me who felt I was a liability to him. Look, I am sorry for bothering you guys so late when you were naked and everything but why are you ignoring the part about me being a tall ungainly cow? Shouldn’t you at least be trying to tell me I’m pretty and not a cow? My dad would if he were here, even if I am one.”

By this point, Julie looked like Briana in full sulk. But, she wasn’t crying. A big improvement. Danny started laughing, which almost sent her into a full blown tantrum. She pulled back her fist to hit him but he caught it easily and grabbed her other hand as a precaution.

“Whoa, calm down. I’m not laughing at you. It’s the idea of you being a cow that’s ludicrous, much less ungainly. I will concede, you are tall...comes with the green eyes and black hair, love, and you should be happy for it. But any dancer who can’t dance with you isn’t much of a dancer. I should know, I trained you myself.”

Danny pulled her into his arms for a hard hug.

I huffed out a laugh. Sometimes he was so focused on his dancing, and his justified pride in it, that he missed the obvious point.

“What your one track mind uncle neglected to mention, Julie, is that you are an incredibly beautiful woman. The truth is, you’re such a natural beauty, you never bother highlighting what you’re blessed with. Even now, when you apparently were out on a date, or were expecting to be, you’re wearing unflattering clothes, your hair is loose and I’m willing to bet you didn’t have any make-up on once you got off-stage–even before you would have cried it off.”

She nodded, a small frown on her face. Danny looked struck. I smirked at him. Sometimes, kiddo, you don’t see what’s right in front of your face.

“Now, I don’t think you need to change a thing about your appearance. You’re gorgeous. But, if this Chad clown is bi and not purely gay,” I ignored Danny muttering, “is there such a thing as pure and gay in your book?” but made a mental note to punish him later for the question. “Or if you simply want to make him eat his words and his heart out, I say you get a good night’s sleep, and tomorrow, you and your uncle go for some retail therapy. Meanwhile, I think maybe I should go check out the cast in person.”

“Bri, what are you going to do?” Danny looked at me warningly.

“Just going to go out for a drink or two since I’m wide awake and half-dressed. Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything... impure.”

Danny didn’t look convinced. “It’s a big city. You don’t even know where to look or what Cad and his little friend Eric look like.”

I raised an eyebrow. A rueful smile came over his face.

“Have fun. Don’t stay out too late. “

Julie looked from Danny to me and then back to Danny.

“I don’t understand. Why is Brian going out? I didn’t mean to break up your Valentine’s Day together. I can go back to my....”

Danny placed a finger to her lips. “Shh. It’s fine. Stop worrying about it. You didn’t break up our evening. We were on a hiatus between bouts anyway.” He flashed a grin at me. “I worked all day so I was catching some sleep. Brian is nocturnal, he was just humoring me. We have the whole weekend together but I wasn’t planning on going out tonight. Probably tomorrow. And while this does happen to be Valentine’s Day, I highly doubt Brian came up to see me for that reason. If he did, I must have missed the heart shaped box of candy and dozen roses he brought me.” Danny’s grin deepened.

I hadn’t said anything to Julie to burst her romantic assumption that I’d flown up to New York specifically to spend a romantic weekend with Danny for this Hallmark created holiday. As he surmised, I had business in the city tomorrow that conveniently allowed me to overlap my work schedule with his, to give us a long weekend together and enable us to fly back to Pittsburgh together Sunday night. As I’d flown up this afternoon with businessmen searching the airport for suitable last minute gifts for wives and girlfriends, I was thankful once again to be free of all that nonsense. I’d learned that being gay didn’t automatically mean escape from it–but being with Danny certainly did. His idea of romance was far from traditional.

Making sure his Waterford vase on the coffee table at home always had fresh wild flowers in it meant much more to him than two dozen red roses on a certain day in February.

Having several of his favorite chocolate cakes delivered to the set in Canada where he was shooting a movie when he called to complain about the food.

Making sure Babylon played Jerome Kern music at least once a night when we were there.

Being romantic came naturally when it came to being with Danny. But none of it came in a heart shaped box.

He followed me into the bedroom and watched me go through the closet. Most of the clothes in it were his but we were able to share sweaters and jackets for the most part. It was only pants that we needed in different sizes since I was a good three inches taller. Although his legs were long for his height, he was far more muscular than I was in the ass and thighs, so we really couldn’t share jeans. His were baggy and short on me and mine were skin tight and long on him.

Right now, he pulled a brown sweater out of my hands and substituted a dark green Hugo Boss one. Huh. I didn’t even know he had any Hugo Boss.

“This would look better on you. It’ll bring out the green in your eyes and it’s nice and form fitting...always a good thing when you go twink hunting. Which is what I assume you’re doing?”

“Moi?” I tried to look innocent as I pulled the sweater over my head and turned to look in the mirror. Nice. I cupped his face and kissed him slowly.

Very nice. But he wasn’t distracted.

“Bri, what do you have in mind?”

“Like you said to Julie, I’m going out to relax at a club while you catch up on your sleep. Thanks for the sweater. It isn’t your usual color.”

“That’s because I picked it up for you. Now stop changing the subject and look at me.”

He was using his deepest, no-nonsense voice. Always an indication to pay attention and obey. Or to get naked and jump in the bed. I was getting hard; I wondered if I should tell him. His mouth twitched and he glanced down. Sometimes I swear he can read my mind.

“You could stay here, you know. I should have Julie settled down pretty quickly.” He practically purred the suggestion in his low “let me fuck you through the mattress” tone. He leaned against me, the thin cotton of his sweat pants doing little to hide his own aroused condition, not that he was anywhere near as hard as I was. But, I’d made up my mind to go find this down-low dancer.

Damn, the things I do to be a good guy. I shook my head to clear it.

“Keep the bed warm for me...in fact, that’s a good idea, stay in bed and keep warm, you must be freezing. Tuck Julie in. I recommend giving her another glass of Beam to make sure she sleeps soundly as these walls are thin as hell and I wouldn’t want to wake her when I get back.”

Danny grimaced. “I’m losing my touch if you want to go out in the cold to hunt down twinks instead of staying in here with me.” He wrapped his arms around me.

I searched his face to see if he was seriously concerned. “You know why I’m going, don’t you?”

He tilted his head and the slow dimpled smile I loved was revealed.

“You’re going off to fight my battle for me, defending the O’Keefe family honor, like my very own superhero, Rage. I find it kind of hot, actually. Which is why, much as I love that you want to do it, I also want you to stay here so I can show you how much I love it.”

“You can show me your appreciation when I get back. In fact, I demand it.” I kissed him again, grazing my teeth along that full bottom lip. I’d better get going or hero or not, I wouldn’t be leaving any time soon.

As I grabbed a leather jacket and headed for the door, he reached for my arm.

“Keep in mind these are just college kids, Bri. They might be jerks, but they....”

“They what, Danny? Aren’t responsible for their actions? They’re twenty or so years old. Some kids are off fighting a war at their age. You were earning your own living at twenty and working your way through college on scholarship and so was I. These kids are living in one of the greatest cities in the world and having a ball at clubs on most nights. This particular kid took what should have been a great time for a sweet girl like Julie and trashed it. If all he wanted was for her to help him meet her hot cousin or uncle with connections, he had only to ask. Fucker didn’t have to trash talk her behind her back as soon as he met some guy he wanted to screw.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Danny frowned. “Okay, use your gay superpowers and hunt him down. I know you’ll do it. Not sure how but I have no doubt you will. Just don’t get into trouble and hurry back as soon as you can.”

Promising to do just that, I hurried on my way, ruffling Julie’s curls as I passed by her on my way out the door. Once I was on the street, I called Miguel. He was sure to know where the latest hang-out was for the young gay arts crowd. He and Justin had been having problems but Miguel kept close watch over him nonetheless. Some things never changed and Justin’s need for a keeper was one of them. He’d gone to Paris last summer while Miguel studied for the bar exam. He came back for a few months but the last I’d heard, he had taken another break from college to study in Italy. He had been expected back in school for the spring semester but according to Debbie, he missed the deadline for registering. Debbie was probably the only person who was surprised.

Miguel answered a text message that he was available, so I called him.

“Feel like hitting a few clubs? I’ll pick you up.” He agreed easily enough, although he asked where Danny was. I told him I’d explain when I saw him, assuring him there were no problems. Miguel was careful about not ever being caught in the middle of a lover’s spat. Not that Danny and I were the types to air our quarrels among our friends, but Miguel’s caution was appreciated all the same. The fact was, both Danny and I found him very attractive and we knew the feeling was mutual. If he ever were to break up with Justin, I was pretty sure that Danny would love to have some threesomes with him. And I know that a foursome with both Miguel and his twin Juan was probably his number one fantasy. I was just waiting for the opportune time–which was definitely not when Justin was involved with one of the twins.

I flagged down a cab. It was too cold a night to walk the blocks to his apartment, even though his new one wasn’t all that far from Danny’s. There was a cold mist to the air that froze your breath; no wonder Julie looked half frozen by the time she reached the apartment. She probably walked all the way from Washington Square.

Miguel was waiting outside on the pavement by the time the cab pulled up in front of his place. He looked damned good in a long leather trenchcoat, form fitting black pants and a black silk shirt.

“Hey, dude. What are you doing out without your hot man? You’re not on the prowl, are you?”

I gave him a slow smile. “Sure. I’m hunting twink tonight and I figure you’re the man to help me find them…seeing as how you’re so close to being one yourself.”

Miguel flashed those killer teeth at me. “Dude, I was never a twink. I suspect like you, I was born experienced and neither of us ever had the sweet young thing working for us. Juan did. Still does. Hard to see how someone with the exact same face and body can look so different but he manages it, you know what I mean?” He laughed as he got into the cab.

I did know what he meant. Even when I was a kid, I never attracted the kind of man who liked innocent young boys, at least not once I was out of middle school. Jack knocked the naivety out of me pretty early on in life. Which was a good thing. It saved me from the kinds of knocks Danny went through. The kinds of knocks I tried to protect Justin from, although in his case, protection was a full time job and in the long run, proved futile. He had to learn the hard way.

I filled Miguel in on the night’s events. He looked cynical when I was done. Of course, saying Miguel looked cynical was like saying Emmett looked effeminate. It was just a matter of degree on any given occasion.

“If they’re out somewhere together, they’re probably at ‘Turgor.’ That’s the big hot spot right now for the Juilliard crowd. A few of the NYU dancers hang out there but not many. They tend to be more straight laced. You get more of the Parsons art crowd, the dancers and jazz players. If this guy is in the closet and doing the down low with the girls at NYU, I’d look for him at ‘Turgor.’ first. Great place to grab some action and go back to being mister straight back at Washington Square with no one remembering much about who did what to whom.”

I nodded. I knew Miguel would know where to look. He confirmed that the driver knew the address and sat back to discuss how work was going. It only took a couple of minutes to get to the club, located in the Chelsea section.

We had no trouble entering, despite the long line outside. The bouncer took one look at the two of us and waved us in, not bothering to collect the cover. Miguel cocked a rueful eyebrow at me.

“You probably know this. Why is it that now that I can afford the ridiculous covers some of these places charge, I don’t get asked?”

“You got asked before?” I was surprised. I don’t think I ever paid a cover. I was sure Danny never did. While he was no Danny, Miguel was a hot looking guy by any club’s standards.

“This kind of club? Yeah. Chalk it up to this wet back of mine, I guess.”

He shrugged as he handed his coat to the drag queen handling the coat check.

“I’ll dry off your back for you any time, tall, dark and handsome,” she purred as she handed him a plastic token in the shape of a cock ring.

“Well, I guess we now know the secret to Turgor’s turgor,” I said, holding up the token and eyeing it, amused. “Although plastic is a bit tacky.”

“Not big enough either,” Miguel added, shaking his head sadly. I snickered and handed him back the ring so he could get his coat back later.

“Darling, maybe you could help us,” he whispered, leaning across the coat check counter and caressing the heavily made up cheek of the queen on duty, much to her delight.

“For you two, handsome, anything. But I’m on duty until three,” the whiskey voiced damsel replied, enjoying the flirtation. “And something tells me two hot gentlemen like yourselves are not looking for something in my flavor...though dreams do come true and I did feed that mouse in the attic extra crumbs when he sewed this gown for me this morning.”

“And a fine job he made of it, too, Cinderfella,” Miguel said, moving his finger to her dècolletage and letting it linger.

Damn, the guy was good. Within minutes, he had a line on where Eric, the “darling dance student from Juilliard” and his “new cutie Chad from NYU” were and what they looked like. I knew Miguel had worked with a criminal defense firm while in law school and had done some investigative work for them but I hadn’t thought to see him in action tonight. I hadn’t really considered how I was going to find our two boys once I got here...stand at the bar and wait for them to come to me probably...but Miguel’s way would get me back in bed with Danny quicker so more power to him.

Miguel spotted Chad first. He pointed him out to me as I handed him a drink.

“Well, there’s your man. Not quite what I was expecting,” Miguel commented.

I took a sip of whiskey and considered our prey. I could see what he meant. Chad was a tall, good-looking young guy, with long, dirty blond hair and eyes so blue you could see the color even in the dim light of the bar. He was dancing in the center of the floor with a group of guys, but was a clear stand-out. He wasn’t the type you’d expect to have to use a girl to get some other guy’s attention.

“Doesn’t make sense,” I agreed, turning back to Miguel, who was staring, wide eyed in another direction. He reached over and grabbed my arm to turn me around, silently gesturing toward a man who exchanged a few words with the bartender before gulping down a bottled water and then rejoining the dancers.

“Dios, I think that must be the ‘darling dance student from Juilliard’, Eric. Now I can see why Chad baited the trap with Julie. To show this guy how good he’d look with him.” Miguel started laughing. “I can’t fucking believe it. That guy looks like he’s the love child of you and your Dark Angel,” he gasped as soon as he could take a breath.

I glared at him, but actually, I could see what he meant. This man, clearly the sought after Eric, had very long, wavy dark hair that came down past his shoulders, and a lightly defined, lean musculature on a medium height frame, more like mine than Danny’s in terms of definition, but lacking my height. His face and build did look like a combination of the two of us, with my fuller lips and cheek bones and slimmer form, but with Danny’s long, darker hair and green eyes, though the color such a startling green they were probably contacts. Indeed, the overall look was too feminine for my taste, but the adman in me recognized that it was a face that would sell; androgyny being very popular.

I evaluated them objectively. The brunet was definitely the more eye-catching of the two, and the better dancer. He seemed to be attracting men to him like flies to honey. I knew the feeling. This Eric was the queen bee of this hive. Yet, it was a carefully assembled package. Close scrutiny convinced me it was not only his eye color that saw nature given a helping hand. I was pretty sure the hair was colored and highlighted, unlike Danny’s gorgeous hair.

I waited for Miguel to catch on and he didn’t disappoint. After a moment, he commented in a low voice, “You know, I don’t think that guy’s hair looks quite right, you know? It looks like the girls in the old neighborhood who messed up a dye job and then tried to go back to their natural color– it never looks quite right. I bet his eyes aren’t really green, either. Still, he looks good in this light.”

Miguel shot me a grin. “And with a few more drinks, I could take him home and pretend he’s the Dark Angel.”

I smiled back at him. “As long as that’s as close as you get to the real thing. I think that might suit our purposes, to sow a little trouble in paradise over there. Do you think I could entice young Chad the Cad away or should you hit on the Danny Wannabe first?”

“Seems a shame to break up young love, but we can always consider it a test of their affection. Why don’t you let me go first and then do your thing with the blond when he’s alone? He won’t recognize you, will he?”

“No, I don’t think he was ever around when I was at Dolce, but I have an even better plan...we both give attention to the Chad...get Chad to leave his new love out in the cold at first...then you go back to your tiny dancer and I’ll let our boy Chad down...easy.”

“You’re evil.”

“I know.”

“I knew I liked you for some reason other than your looks.”

We exchanged smirks and after a brief discussion had our plan in place. I liked Miguel; it was refreshing sometimes to spend time with someone who shared my flexible morals. O’Keefes were great but there were always all these tedious discussions about what was the right thing to do. With Miguel, we could move right on in for the kill. My adrenalin kicked in as I got out onto the dance floor. Despite being a good ten years older than many of the men in the place, I knew I was garnering the usual interest. I once chased eternal youth by imbibing drugs and alcohol during my nights and then working like a demon during my days to prove I wasn’t a waste of life like my drunkard father. Since hooking up with Danny, I gave up drugs, drank sparingly and exercised like a demon. I didn’t even smoke anymore and I ate healthier than ever before. The result was that the youth I’d chased so futilely before seemed to finally be mine and I looked like my former self again. However, my style was always more that of an alpha wolf than a queen bee.

As Miguel and I started dancing, eyes that had been watching the two dancers slowly started veering our way. I ignored the attention with an indifference honed over years of being reigning stud of my own turf; Miguel had a similar arrogance working for him. He had a level of personal magnetism and power that was easily a match for the purely physical attraction of the other men; not that he was a slouch in the looks department either. But if you put him and his identical twin Juan next to each other, it would be Miguel with his aura of suppressed power and energy who would attract your attention. Juan was a great guy but Miguel was hot.

As we danced, Chad and the pseudo Angel drifted closer. Soon they were close enough that Miguel was able to move in front of Chad and I moved in back of him, Miguel’s better dancing ability enabling him to insinuate himself smoothly between Chad and his former partner, who moved away agreeably enough, thinking that the four of us would be dancing together.

Sadly for him, that wasn’t the plan. Miguel and I made handsome Chad the Cad the sole focus of our amorous attentions. He loved it and soon forgot his pretty partner while we made a twink sandwich of him, with Miguel rubbing against his front and me pressing my cock against his ass.

One thing you had to admire about male dancers, they all had great asses, firm, tight, taut buttocks, well-shaped, with just enough flesh to give you a good handful on each side. Their backs were usually great too, and I ran my hands along this one, having no problem with admiring the body of someone who had a lousy personality. Danny and I differed on this point, which is why Miguel made such a better partner for this escapade. Danny would have come here and either punched the guy out or told him off. My way was going to teach him a much more lasting lesson.

Chad bent his head back against my chest and moaned in pleasure as Miguel’s attentions grew more energetic. I raised an eyebrow at the lusty lawyer. If Miguel were much more enthusiastic in his grinding, this kid would be shooting his wad in his jeans. Miguel must have had the same idea because he backed off slightly and ran his hands up Chad’s chest.

“Baby, you want to go in the back with me?” he cooed in Chad’s ear, nuzzling the twink’s neck, keeping up a steady rhythm of frottage on the kid between our two stronger bodies, our hips moving in tandem. I watched with almost clinical detachment as our prey’s eyes glazed over, his skin flushed with arousal. It was strange to be hard and yet feel completely detached; it had been a long time since I’d felt this way during a sexual encounter and to think that all of them used to be like this. I caught Miguel’s eye and he winked at me. I felt his hand brush against my nipple and squeeze it. I suppressed a grin, but was grateful for the touch...for a moment I felt disassociated from myself, like I’d somehow lost the last couple of years and was back to being the person I’d been three years ago. Seeking empty encounters to dull the pain of an empty life.

I wanted to wrap this up and get back to Danny. I nodded at Miguel, and he gave the merest nod back in acknowledgment. His arms wrapped around our young friend and I stepped back as Miguel swirled him away. Within minutes the two of them were moving toward the back of the club.

I strolled over to the bar and ordered another Beam on the rocks. As I pulled out my wallet, a voice to my right spoke up.

“Put that on my tab, Eddie.”

I turned to see who was buying me a drink–and whether I would accept. I wasn’t completely surprised to see that it was our tiny dancer. He actually wasn’t all that short, maybe five nine, but I was used to being around tall men these days. Hell, with Danny’s family, I was used to being around tall people, period. This guy, who was wearing dancing flats, was more than eight inches shorter than me, six foot three, even before my Prada boots added another two inches.

I lifted the drink to him in thanks. “To what do I owe your generosity?”

He smiled, revealing a row of perfect teeth–of course. “An excuse to introduce myself. I’m Eric Jerome, dancer, aspiring model. You’re Brian Kinney, President and CEO of Kinnetik, one of the fastest growing advertising companies on the east coast. Winner of the Clio six times. Creator of the Dark Angel personae for Angel O’Keefe and....”
“Whoa,” I held up a hand. “I am familiar with my own resume, thanks. And thank you for the drink, Jerome. So, you recognize me and you are familiar with the Dark Angel personae. I trust you won’t mind my saying that you’re skirting close to a trademark infringement? Unless you just happen to have naturally dark wavy hair and deep green eyes, which is common...in Pittsburgh.”

The kid grinned at me. “I suck at soccer. And no, I didn’t grow up in Pittsburgh. I did go to Penn State. Not to college, obviously, but to watch some of the soccer games that Danny played in there. I was all of nine, ten years old at the time and my uncle took me. You might have met him, his name is Arthur and he owns Diva’s, it’s a club here in the city.”

I stared at this kid in disbelief. He was related to that old queen with the Danny fetish? Talk about nuts not falling far from the tree. He grinned again.

“Don’t worry, I don’t have a shrine in my dorm room to your boyfriend. This look works for me, much better than glasses and my own mousy brown hair. But I do love dancing and I’m good at it. Uncle Arthur told me about Danny because I come from a sports loving family, and wanting to be a dancer among my brothers was not a popular choice. Uncle Arthur showed me that it was possible to like sports but love dancing. And most importantly, that it was okay to love men. That even manly All-American athletes did. Which fact helped a lot with my dad and brothers. The long hair is something I like as I’m not the butch type, but it helps take the heat off that someone like your Danny can have long hair and still be considered manly. So, maybe this sounds crazy, but I can most easily be me by being like him. Hell and all, my dad never would have let me come to New York and study dance if Uncle Arthur hadn’t told him about Danny.”

I felt bemused. “So where are you from?”

“Ohio. Dad wanted me to study engineering. Like my brothers and him. And I was a runner in high school. But they wanted me to play, get this, football. Because of my speed. And I actually have a good arm. I would have made a good quarterback like my older brothers did. But I hated it and quit my sophomore year. If it weren’t for Uncle Arthur, I think I would have been disowned, but nobody likes to get him too mad.”

“Why is that?” I was fascinated by this talkative little guy despite myself.

“Arthur is fucking rich, didn’t you know? And he is more of an honorary uncle, I think. My mom was one of his favorite students and she made him my Godfather, and he’s always stayed close after he retired from teaching. Even after she moved to Ohio. Lucky she made him my godfather, huh? She must have been psychic.”

He gave me a friendly grin with those model perfect teeth. I was going to have to introduce this kid to Danny. He would get a kick out of him. Except...I remembered the Julie issue.

I frowned at him. “So, if you are so knowledgeable about the O’Keefes, you must know who Chad’s partner was that you agreed to replace. Why the fuck would you do something like that?”

Eric knit his brow together, looking confused for a moment, then his face cleared. “You mean Julie O’Keefe? The favor I did her? I got that jerk Chad away from her! In fact, I figured that you were here returning the favor. By the way, thanks! What the hell and all is wrong with Johnny O’Keefe that he didn’t keep that jerk away from his cousin I don’t know, but whenever I tried to talk to him about it, he got all huffy. That is one guy with a stick so far up his ass...I swear I never trust bisexuals. They’re either straight guys who love the attention or queers who can’t get the nerve up to admit that they’re gay.”

Ever hear your own words come back at you and want to wince? But then I focused on the first part of what he said.

“You were trying to get Chad away from Julie?”

“Sure, I always thought she seemed like a nice girl and I knew that Chad was a scumball. I’d heard through the grapevine that he was using her to try to get my attention, buying the idea that the whole O’Keefe mystique will attract Jerome, so I let it. I couldn’t believe the things he said about her. The only good thing about their dance was her. And then he goes and hurts her ankle, probably from his clumsy lifting. No way is he lifting me if he can’t lift her. How much does he think a guy weighs if a girl is too heavy for him?”

I shook my head. I felt like I’d fallen down the rabbit hole after Alice.

“Anyway, it was so like Danny O’Keefe to want to rescue me from Chad after I saved Julie...I bet he sent you, didn’t he?”

The light of hero worship was in Jerome’s eyes. At this moment, he was clearly Arthur’s kid, without a drop of blood in common, their resemblance went deeper than mere genetics. I smiled.

“Yeah, Danny wanted to make sure you were taken care of,” I assured him. I tried to give him a couple of twenties. “Why don’t you head off home now, or even to Diva’s. It would be best if you leave before Chad gets back from his tryst with Miguel. Then you can legitimately refuse to speak to him and tell him your dancing with him tomorrow is off if he calls...Danny will plan something different with Julie to fill that slot. He’ll contact you at Diva’s and let you know what is planned, okay?”

“Danny is working on something with her? That’s great! I just know it’ll be fabulous! Thanks for the cab money but I don’t need it. I was glad to help and getting Chad off my back–literally– is thanks enough. It was great talking to you. See you tomorrow, I hope. I have a solo in the second half of the show...I hope you and the Dark Angel will be there for it.”

The little devil leaned forward and, standing on his toes, gave me a kiss on the lips. I smacked him on the ass and sent him on his way. He reminded me a bit of Justin, all the balls in the world. He would do fine, I thought, a grin tugging at my lips as I sipped at the whiskey he’d bought me. The smile had been bright enough with those sparkling white teeth, but I was partial to one framed by two deep dimples.

Miguel came sauntering back a few minutes later. I had a drink ready for him. A dry martini. Nothing fancy. Miguel was a purist. He leaned back against the bar and surveyed the room with all the air of a man ready to pick his next partner.

I was amused but feigned boredom since I could see Chad coming up to us, an expectant look on his face. “Well, how was he?”

“I’ve had better,” was all Miguel had to say, his voice pitched low but strong enough to carry the five or so feet to where his erstwhile backroom partner was standing, red-faced and awkward.

“You’re the one who wanted to come check out the twinks, what did you expect?” I drawled, before taking another sip of my drink. I let my glance linger on Chad, who stood off to the side, listening to our conversation. The red color drained away from his face, leaving him pale, when I added, holding his gaze, “I could tell how it’d be when he almost came on the dance floor.”

Miguel shrugged. “Yeah, well, I got off. Now we can do some serious clubbing. Let’s go hit Edge or Noir.” He drained his glass and set it down on the bar.

We walked out, seemingly without a backward glance. As I waited for Miguel to retrieve his coat from the friendly drag queen, I could see from the corner of my eye that Chad was walking around the crowd asking questions, no doubt trying to find out where Eric had gone. Not too bright if he didn’t realize he’d blown that chance.

Outside again, Miguel raised one slim eyebrow at me. “So, what did you do with the cute little one? I thought he was going to be my reward for the night?”

I frowned. “Turns out he’s one of the good guys. More or less. Can you believe he’s connected to Arthur, the old guy at Diva’s?”

Miguel’s own million dollar smile broke out. I was beginning to feel like I was in a toothpaste commercial.

“Really? That’s a riot. What is he, a grandson...no, wait, Arthur doesn’t have any kids.”

“Godson. The son of an old student. One who shares his Danny fixation. It seems he meant well by taking Chad away from young Julie. Apparently Chad is bad news all around and young Eric expected to win the gratitude of his hero for his sacrifice in removing him from Julie’s dance card. He knew who I was as soon as we came in and figured out what we were up to. So much for our clever plotting. At least you got something out of this whole wild goose trip.”

Miguel shrugged again. “Meh, I wasn’t acting when I said he wasn’t all that good. I’ve had ice cream cones that lasted longer–in the Bronx– in July. If I had my choice, I would have gone for Arthur’s godkid...though now that I know of that relationship I guess I’ll have to think again. Couldn’t you have kept that info to yourself for another day or so? Or more to the point, for another night?”

I had to laugh at his sour expression. “Poor Miguel, keeps getting older and all the twinks stay the same.”

“It’s not their age that’s the problem, it’s that all the good ones seem to be related to someone,” he grumbled. “So, you heading back to your forever young, forever beautiful, Dark Angel?”

“Accept no substitutes,” I answered flippantly. “You okay?” Now that I was done with my vigilante justice for the night, my mood was picking up again and I could spare some thought for Miguel. I felt a twinge of guilt. “Do you want to come back to the apartment? Danny’s probably still awake since his niece is there.”

“Nah, you kids need your beauty sleep. I’ll probably check out the benefit tomorrow. The firm is one of the sponsors. Johnny is performing too so the old man told me to be sure to get tickets.”

“Want to share a cab?” I lingered, loathe to leave Miguel alone when he seemed melancholy, especially after he’d been such a trouper over helping tonight–hell, he’d done it all; I’d just had to watch. He’d saved me from having to deal directly with the slimeball, which would please Danny, even if he wouldn’t admit it. Miguel looked at me through narrowed eyes.

“I’m okay, Brian. I’m not one of your frail Pittsburgh flowers…though it’s sweet of you to be concerned. Touching, in fact.” The white teeth gleamed in the glow of the neon lights then Miguel leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “I’d love to share a cab ride with you, if you promise to make it...interesting. Better yet, I can think of something other than a cab that I’d love to share with you tonight...something tall, dark and Irish? But the niece does put a damper on that idea somewhat, doesn’t she?”

I mock glared at him and pushed him away. He continued on down the street jauntily, his laughter floating back to me on the night air. I shook my head. Trust Miguel to turn the tables so smoothly. For all his banter, however, there had been an underlying sadness to his expression tonight when he didn’t think I was looking. I wondered where Justin was these days.

“Thanks for your help!” I yelled before he turned the corner.

“Manana!” floated back over the night air as he walked out of view.

I was able to flag down a cab right away and was back in front of the apartment within ten minutes. Letting myself back in, I had to smile at the sight that met my eyes. Two sleeping O’Keefes stretched out on the sofa, Julie curled up on Danny’s shoulder, her long legs sprawled across his, the afghan trailing half over them and half on the floor. It was strongly reminiscent of the many times Danny had fallen asleep exhausted from trying to get Briana down for a nap. The child would eventually curl up on her sleeping uncle for the much needed rest. Only this sleeping niece was as big as he was, for all that her face in repose looked just as trusting and vulnerable as the much younger girl’s ever did. Perhaps more so, I reflected, as Briana could be quite formidable on occasion. Julie was often too nice for her own good. Certainly this escapade indicated as much. While Chad the Cad had been punished, there was still the matter of Julie’s standing among the dance crowd at her school, not to mention her own bruised ego, to restore.

I walked over to the sofa and crouched down to look more closely at Danny’s sleeping face. I never grew tired of looking at him. Some men might find that young man Eric to be more attractive with his almost feminine features, but I preferred Danny’s purely masculine beauty, the strong jaw and defined cheek bones; his long lashes rested on cheeks that already showed a hint of beard having not been shaved for almost a day. His sculpted lips were full but no one would ever mistake them for anything other than male. I bent to kiss him, male being my favorite flavor.

A hand came up and gripped the back of my head, holding me in place as the kiss deepened.

Breaking for air, I turned my head and nuzzled his hand.

“Welcome back,” he murmured, his voice husky with sleep.

“Want me to carry Julie into the spare room?” I offered, keeping my voice low.

“No, it’s probably even colder in there. This sofa is comfortable enough. I’ll slip out from under her and leave her here with some extra blankets. Grab a couple from the closet for me?”

I got up and retrieved the blankets and helped him shift her over gently so he could get up without waking her. I then made sure the door was dead-bolted again and the lights were out while he tucked her in.
 

***********************************

(Danny’s POV)

Waking up to Brian’s kiss was definitely a good thing. It took me a second to realize that the weight on my chest wasn’t him but Julie–which was an odd moment since I was getting hard and then woke up enough to realize that the body on top of mine was completely the wrong shape. It would have been funny if there hadn’t been a decidedly wrong feel to it. This was my niece, for fuck’s sake. Yet another one of the many rugrats I’d babysat. Not that the hard-on was caused by her, but still, I was relieved that Brian shifted Jules over and helped me get up. We went back to the bedroom to try to catch a few hours sleep before it was time to get up again.

Brian made short work of undressing and getting into the bed. I tossed off my sweats but then I had to stretch; sleeping tandem on a sofa is not friendly to the muscles. As I locked my hands and extended my arms overhead to stretch my intercostals, I caught sight of Bri, leaning against the headboard and giving me an odd look.

I bent in the opposite direction, and tilted my head questioningly. His arms were stretched out behind him on the headboard, his bare torso extended, his long cock resting along one muscled thigh. I smiled at the enticing view.

“Coming any time soon?” he asked lazily, emphasizing the first word.
I laughed at him, but the truth was, that line never failed to work. Even though I tried to go on with my stretches, my cock was sending me signals that it was already warmed up. “I just need to stretch out the kinks from trying to sleep two to a couch...but I’m beginning to wake up if your prowling activities didn’t leave you sated.”

Didn’t hurt to toss that hint out, I figured, and see what I got. Bri and I didn’t fool around when we had each other, hell, we didn’t do much when we were separated, but I knew he went out looking for Julie’s erstwhile beau with the idea of a little rough justice in mind. That could have meant anything from pointedly rejecting him in a club after getting him interested...to doing so after fucking him, leaving him bare-assed and infatuated after the best sex of his life. Or worse, walking away without a word, not even rejecting him or explaining, saying nothing at all, as though he wasn’t worth a second thought. Yeah, that would be Brian’s way. I turned to the side and stretched my hamstrings as I pondered this, gripping the bedpost. Brian had insisted if we spent any time here I had to get a decent bed, a four poster with sturdy posts and a headboard. Such a good idea. Of course, a better idea when I didn’t have a teen-aged rugrat in the next room.

“My prowling didn’t net me anything near as interesting as what I see right here. Why, were you worried?” Bri raised an eyebrow and made a show of looking me over, which made me even more aroused. Fuck, he could do more to me with a look....

His body was gorgeous, so lean and elegant. I started striking lewder and lewder poses in my stretching in an effort to get to him. But all he had to do was casually reach down and start to stroke his swelling cock to make me abandon the game. I climbed onto the bed and grabbed his feet.

“Even your feet are beautiful...did you know that?” I asked him, my voice low as I pulled him down so his head was resting on the pillows, his arms flung out above him. What a sight. There were times I regretted taking down the mirror from the ceiling.

I kissed along his instep, massaging his calf with my hands, resting his other foot on my thigh– I’d get to that one in due time. After my nap I was wide awake and I wanted to show Brian that he could never get the kind of loving I give him anywhere else. I was going to make love to every inch of his perfect body. Even if it drove him crazy. Especially if it drove him crazy.

“Danny...I’m glad you love my feet, and that feels amazing. But bring that talented tongue of yours about thirty-six inches north, please.”

His voice was strained. Good.

“I will.” Eventually, I added silently.

I rubbed my tongue along his ankle as my hands locked on his, which were pulling on my arm.

“Do I have to tie you up? That would be so embarrassing if Julie should happen to wander in here for something now, wouldn’t it?”

“You mean more embarrassing than your newfound foot and ankle fetish? I don’t think so. Tie me up, at least then I have some hope of getting relief here.”

“Patience is a virtue,” I intoned solemnly between kisses along his calf. “I’m pretty sure that you were the one who told me that, um, long time ago. I remember all the advice you ever gave me, Bri. You should find that flattering.”

“I would find it more flattering if you would suck my cock,” he gasped, his hands gripping the sheet as I continued to hold them down. I stopped what I was doing to consider his long form. He looked at me challengingly. Definitely a night for restraints. Julie wouldn’t come in without knocking, I decided. I leaned over him, pulling his hands over his head.

“Danny, what are you doing?” he asked in a conversational tone–as conversational as one can be while slightly breathless.

“This is a very good look for you,” I told him. “Your arms above your head like this, but especially I like your face begging to be kissed and your legs spread out so wantonly...I like it. I think I prefer that you stay in this position as you tell me about your exploits this evening.”

“Oh you do, do you?” He raised an amused eyebrow at me, and started to sit up...just as I clicked the handcuffs closed around his wrists.

I smiled triumphantly at the surprise on his face.

“The trick,” I explained in a very kind voice, “is in keeping your focus somewhere other than on what your hands are doing. By looking down and talking about your gorgeous face and fine legs just as my hands were getting the cuffs in position, you were distracted from what was going on near your wrists. Now, I am going to leave your legs free because I need access to all of your lower regions. I can trust you not to kick me, can’t I?”

“Trust is clearly over-rated in this bed tonight,” he growled, tugging on the cuffs. I love this bed.

I bent and licked at his nipple...the left one... grazing it slightly with my teeth.

“So, what did you do tonight after you left the apartment?” I asked in a conversational tone, focusing all of my attention on the rosy nub in front of me, flicking my tongue over it until it stood up, hard and shiny, the same deep color as his cock. I loved Brian’s chest, so smooth and perfect, just the right amount of muscle. I stroked his lower stomach slightly, careful to avoid his cock, and I could feel his body tremble beneath me.

“You aren’t answering my question...I can wait all night, you know,” I said in my deepest, softest voice as I ran my tongue along the indentation of his breastbone.

“Danny...fuck me.” He bent his head forward and tried to brush his lips over mine as I moved to the other side of his chest. I held his gaze for a second before smiling and continuing with my torture.

“That isn’t an answer....at least, not an answer to the question I asked.” I moved down his belly to his navel, swirling my tongue around the hollow, which made him gasp. I swear the man has more erogenous zones than anyone I’d ever met...which is such a turn-on. I had left off kissing his legs and used the cuffs because I knew he was going to end the game too soon if I’d kept up in that area. Never would have made it past the knees without him jumping me.

“I fucked six guys in the backroom,” he claimed, “but now I’m ready to get fucked so get a damn condom on and stop teasing.”

“Just six?” I asked, sounding surprised. “Must have been a slow night.” I could tell from the fact that he hadn’t jumped in the shower...and the lack of any strong smell of other men on him... that he hadn’t been with any other man at all, fucking or sucking. A whiff of familiar cologne, which I was pretty sure was Miguel’s, was all I could detect. Probably from dancing. But definitely no serious action. After years with Etienne, I was an expert at detection. But some imp of mischief made me want him to tell me. Consider it a valentine’s present. Of course, that was when he decided to blow me away with his confession.

“Danny...you don’t need to tie me to your bed...I’m already chained to you...and nothing could ever take me away.” I looked up into his eyes, which were filled with humor and love, and suddenly I was the one who was breathless. I braced myself with my forearms on either side of his hips, his gorgeous swollen cock inches from my face, and for once, I ignored it; I was lost in those beautiful hazel eyes.

“Danny, tonight I was in a club filled with hot young men, and all I could think about was how soon I could leave and get back to you. How soon I could feel my body entwined with yours, how soon I could feel your cock in me or mine in you. The simple fact is, you’re the only one I want to make love to. Tie me up, tie me down, I’m yours, any way you want me.”

I smiled at him. As much as I’d told Julie I was okay with Brian going out to the club tonight, knowing as I did that he was just looking for the guy who treated her badly in order to teach him a lesson, I hadn’t been crazy about it. I never wanted anyone else when Brian was around and if there was one thing I was insecure about, it was how much time my family responsibilities took, time better spent on Brian. I was always afraid he might get fed up with it, and justifiably. Instead, I got the world handed to me.

I moved up to kiss his mouth, tasting him, sucking on his lower lip, running my tongue over his hungrily as my hands caressed his face, my cock pressed against his.

“Mo gra`, my heart, I want you so much right now,” I told him in my deepest voice. “Fuck the slow and teasing, I want you hard and fast.” I reached up to undo the cuffs.

There were no complaints with the pace I set from that point on, as I grabbed a condom and lube from the nightstand and proceeded to make love to the only man I’ve ever loved with my whole heart and soul. I pulled him up into my arms, wrapping his legs around my waist, and rocking our bodies together, supporting him with my arms as he locked his around my neck, kissing him the whole time as I raised him up to position over me and then lowered him onto me.

“Fuck, Danny...this is fucking...amazing,” he gasped, as I sped up the pace, rocking his ass up and down on my cock. He arched his back and ground down against me, the sweat pouring down his chest. I dipped my head to lick at it then lifted him up again, almost all the way off. I loved looking at the juncture of our bodies, the sight of my cock disappearing into his ass alone enough to make me come. I bit my lip and tried to hold off.

I lowered Brian back down and lifted his legs over my shoulders, so I could thrust faster and harder, one hand holding me up and the other fisting Brian’s cock furiously, keeping pace with my thrusts until I felt the hot liquid pulsing over my fingers, letting me know I could let go and I came in a rush.

I collapsed, panting, onto Brian’s chest, and his arms wrapped around me as I slid from his body.
“That wasn’t half bad,” he murmured, brushing my hair back from my face and kissing me.

“Mmm, thanks. That’s what I aim for...better than half bad.” I tossed the condom at the trash can under the night table. Hoped I made it. He laughed at the sound of the full condom smacking against the wall behind the can. I shrugged. Basketball was never my sport. I’d get it in the morning. He got up and walked, picked it up before going on to the bathroom. My hero. He even brought me a glass of water back from the bathroom when he returned to bed. I accepted it gratefully. All that licking and panting makes a person thirsty.

Curling up together once again, I couldn’t help returning to the topic of his evening’s activities.

“So, was it worth giving up your vigilante justice? Not that I didn’t appreciate your being concerned for Julie’s sake,” I told him, “but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t glad you decided not to go with the plan of seducing Chad the Cad and leaving him high and dry. At least, that’s what I thought you were going to do.”

Brian pulled me closer to him as he laughed lightly. “That’s quite a sentence. What was that? A quadruple negative? But if I understood you, beloved Dark Angel...and I do about half the time...you didn’t want me to seduce Chad...correct? And yes, that was the plan and no, I didn’t. Miguel did. I just helped bait the trap.”

I leaned up on my elbow to look at him better but he gently pushed me back down onto his chest.

“No, no more getting up. Even you need an hour or two of sleep. I require about three hours, so you will continue this conversation in a prone position in the hope of falling asleep at some point. I thought we decided all was right with our world...why are we still talking?”

I frowned. “I thought you said you realized you just wanted me and....”

I found myself being kissed. Thoroughly. I considered whether I did need to discuss this anymore. Brian didn’t look at all guilty. Which, when he did anything at all, he did... look guilty, that is. If Miguel was the one who did the fucking, well, that was okay, Miguel was a big boy. He could handle himself fine. More than handle himself, in fact. Since I’d heard from Juan just yesterday that Justin had taken off for Europe again, having wrangled more money from his trust out of John, Miguel could use the distraction. Still, I wondered what being “bait” involved. Brian ran his hands through my hair soothingly even as he laughed at me softly.

“Now who’s being insecure? Damn, it must be in the water tonight, you’ll be sounding like Julie soon. Danny, I did nothing more than dance with Miguel and Julie’s erstwhile friend. Then Miguel took him off to the backroom, where he promptly used him and left him. I stayed out by the bar and talked to a little doppelganger of yours...the dancer from Juilliard that Julie mentioned, his name is Eric. Funny thing is, he looks a bit like you...without the muscles and with the aid of some hair dye and green contacts. Even funnier, he’s the godson of Arthur from Diva’s. Has the family fixation on you.”

I had to laugh at Brian’s expression. “No way. I remember that kid! Arthur showed me pictures a few times. I wrote the boy a recommendation for Juilliard, in fact, based on a video that Arthur sent me, which was such poor quality I had trouble telling which person was him at first. But as I recall, he didn’t look anything like me.”

“Well, he’s changed since then I suspect. And he’s not like you, so much as he’s a femme version of you, although Miguel called him a cross between you and me, saying he looked like what our love child would look like, damn that smart ass Mexican.”

I was intrigued by that image. When I tried to ask Brian more questions, however, he kissed me again, his surefire method for shutting me up, and told me to focus on planning a dance number for me to do with Julie. I’d see the rest of the cast soon enough.

“How are you going to get Julie and me onto the program on the day of the show?” I asked, sleep beginning to overtake me again. I shifted in order to burrow closer to his warmth.

“It’s a charity function, right? Money always talks at that type of function and I speak money fluently...especially when I’m using someone else’s, and in this case I will be using yours, kiddo.”

I smiled against his chest. He might say that but I would have to make sure he tapped into my account for any financial “encouragement” he paid tomorrow. Brian pretended to be tough but he was ridiculously generous to those he cared about, and as much as he denied it, I knew he cared about my family. I wrapped my arms tightly around him and drifted off to sleep.
 

***********************************
 

(Friday, February 15th; Julie’s POV)

I stood in front of the mirror in bra and panties and waited while Uncle Danny discussed what he wanted with his usual dresser at Dolce and Gabbana. I’d tried to get him to use one of the dressers who worked with the women but he promised me that Franco could be trusted to make me look better than any of the others. I would have tried offering some input into their discussion but they were speaking in Italian and while I could speak it well enough to follow them...somewhat... it had been a couple of years since I’d used it much and my Italian wasn’t up to rattling it off at the speeds they were talking. At least, that’s what I told myself. I also didn’t really have a clue what would look sexy on me.

Danny had more curves than I did.

Not really, but his chest was more, I don’t know, impressive. O’Keefe girls weren’t normally as thin as I was, they were sturdier, more voluptuous. So I’d been dieting, trying to lose that look, since a sturdy ballerina was not quite in vogue. I thought I’d been successful but then, back home for the holidays, my parents had been so shocked by my appearance, they’d practically force fed me. So the result was I did come back to school after break heavier by about five pounds, and then with Chad paying me attention, I thought it was okay not to lose it. But still, I hadn’t thought I was a cow...at least, I worried about being one but...

“Earth to Jules...Jules, come in, baby.” Danny tickled me. I had my arms wrapped around my waist and he gently pulled them down to my sides.

“Franco needs to take your measurements, baby, so put your arms down for a sec. Are you cold? I can have the heater turned on.”

The concern in his voice made me start to tear up. I didn’t know what was wrong with me these days. Everything was making me weepy. That wasn’t like me.

Danny narrowed his eyes as he looked at me. “You’re too thin, Julie. And you hardly ate anything this morning. I’m going to get you some juice and you’re going to drink it, understand?”

I bit my lip.

“Just say yes, sweetie, it’s the easiest thing. None of us say no to Angel here when he’s in a mood. Not that I would ever say no to him no matter what he suggested... and not that he’s ever suggested anything halfway interesting to me, if you know what I mean.” Franco chattered away as he whipped his tape measure expertly around my body, measuring so quickly and naturally that it was impossible to be embarrassed by my undressed state. Plus, it was funny to see Uncle Danny roll his eyes and blush.
“Franco, watch your mouth, this is one of my nieces, remember.”

“So what does that mean? This lovely creature doesn’t know you have sex...with men? Oopsie, my bad. Forget everything I said, okay, sweet Julie? Uncle Danny is a virgin and he’s saving himself for...me.”

I giggled as Uncle Danny rolled his eyes and ducked to avoid Franco’s attempts to pinch his ass.

“Listen, you take off for now, ‘Uncle Danny,’ while I take care of sweet Julie. You can trust her with Uncle Franco...ooooh, I like the sound of that, makes me feel all Humbert Humbert.”

“That’s gross, Franco...did you ever even read ‘Lolita’?” Danny looked skeptical.

“God no, Angel, if it didn’t have boys doing boys, I wasn’t interested. Which pretty much limited me to ‘Maurice’ and ‘The Front Runner’ back in the old days. Well, and ‘The Persian Boy.’ And then there was ‘Tales of the City’....”

“I’m heading out to get some food before you list the entire gay lit list of the past forty years.”

“No, no, we’ll feed baby girl here; you get to work on arranging things for her dance with you. No putting a beauty like her in the corner while everyone else dances! Do you know what you’re going to do yet to be smashing?”

Danny’s eyes lit up. “Franco, you’re brilliant, you know that?” He came back and picked up the large dresser and whirled him around. Franco looked like a man who enjoyed his pasta so that was not as easy as my uncle made it look but it was a safe bet that Danny had never told any partner, male, female or bovine, that they were too heavy for him.

“Well, sure, I know I’m brilliant...but tell me, what did I say?”

Even I had to laugh at the note of pure bewilderment in Franco’s voice. Danny pulled me down from the dais I’d been on and looked me in the eye.

“Jules, remember the dance number we did three years ago for the GLC fundraiser?”

I smiled–that would be perfect! Then frowned, remembering Uncle Danny’s bad knee. “Can you still....” He cut me off.

“I can do any dance...once.” He grinned at me. “Don’t you worry about me. I’m going over to the auditorium now and see what Brian has arranged. You get well fed and get your hair and make-up set. You know the look to shoot for, sweet but sexy was what we did before...Franco, I want exactly that, sweet and sexy but amp it up, I want the New York version of that. White dress, emphasize her silhouette. I want her back bare, low cut in the front...halter style I think. Keep the hair curly, I’ll go straight with mine pulled back as I don’t want to look like siblings for this. Flared skirt that will bell out from the waist when I spin her...got it?”
“Got it. Anything else?”

Uncle Danny cocked his head to the side and looked at me. “Yeah, this is my niece so make sure her underwear is sexy but covers enough of her. And feed her for God’s sake. She looks like a Kate Moss style model and not one of D&G’s.”

He dashed off, leaving the two of us slightly breathless. Franco smiled at me.

“He’s always like that up here. Is he always like that back home?”

“Pretty much,” I admitted. “Except when he’s excited, then he’s...more like that, if you know what I mean.”

The big man laughed and handed me a robe. “I like you, baby girl. Let’s get you some something to nosh on and then we’ll hunt through wardrobe for the right dress for you to wow the crowd in.”

“I’m really not hungry,” I told him as we headed over to a small kitchen area next to his workroom.

His keen brown eyes looked at me. He gestured for me to sit down. Being one of the polite O’Keefes, I obeyed. My cousin Johnny would have told him what he could do with the advice that was so clearly heading my way. Of course, this man was very obviously close with Uncle Danny, and according to Danny, Franco was one of the main reasons he’d risen to the top of the modeling field. Dad used to say Danny’s success wasn’t due to him being the best looking man in modeling, if that were all it took, our family was filled with men who were both better looking and taller; it came from him being one of the best looking nice men in modeling. Danny never ignored advice when it was offered; he might not take it, but he always listened to it, Dad said. My Dad was probably the smartest man I knew. If being nice and smart enough to listen to others was what it took to be a success in this field, modeling was safe from Johnny and Chad, I thought wryly.

I settled in with a plate of fruit salad and a glass of milk and got a tough lecture on the risks of anorexia and eating disorders, body image problems and the whole nine yards. And then, Franco moved on to the topic of my aunt. A topic that is practically never discussed at home.

“You look like her, you know.”

“Who?” I was perplexed for a moment. I knew I looked like Danny. Then it hit me. Briana’s mom. My black sheep aunt. The one not named Mary.

“Angel. You’re as pretty as she was. She was as boyishly slim as you are. You look like a dream in clothes. You’ll be asked to be on the runway this year. You would have been last year but Danny wanted you to have a year to focus on your schoolwork and didn’t want you going through all the lead up without him. With him out of commission last summer and only that cousin of yours around, he and your dad didn’t want Dolce and Gabbana sending you off to Europe.”

My first inclination was to be annoyed. They could have asked me. Franco must have seen something of that on my face because he reached out a hand.

“Don’t get angry at your uncle because I’m talking out of turn. I’m telling you so you know that you were beautiful enough last year to be chosen. When you get asked this year, I don’t want you to think it is because of pity or as some type of consolation, or even because we’re doing anything today to make you any better than you already were. If anything, the weight you’ve lost needs to go back on...you’re naturally slender, you don’t want to be as gaunt as you were in the fall. I mentioned your Aunt, the original Dark Angel, because she was just eighteen when she came to the city to make it as a model. She had no one to guide her, to watch her steps and she made some bad decisions. By the time Danny came along, she’d gone to far on the wrong path for him to ever bring her back. Those of us in the industry saw how hard he tried to keep her clean, but she was in a spiral that she just couldn’t escape. It broke his heart. He recovered but he had a hard time ever forgiving himself. I don’t know if he would survive if he lost one of you kids, especially you, baby girl. You’re special to him; you can’t tell me you’re not. So I think you owe it to him to take care of yourself, don’t you? Because he is doing this for you, helping you, even though every time he looks at you in this setting, he worries that he is risking you to the same dangers that he lost Angel to.”

I found myself blinking back tears again. I never thought of it like that. But then, I never thought of myself as an impossibly beautiful, wild woman, looking for freedom. Of course, I had come to New York City also, along with wild Johnny, but I’d done it in my own simple way, sweet talking my sensible father. There had been none of the fireworks that had accompanied my Uncle John and Johnny’s discussion about his college plans. Of course, I’d never been a stand-out soccer player and I’d always been one of my uncle’s dance protégées. And singing students. Being a middle child, I’d avoided so many pressures, really, and got to hang out with Danny and Mama Rose as much as at my own house, helping with Briana as though she were a little sister.

It never occurred to me how much more Danny had encouraged my visits after Angel had died, and how Briana had clung to me more than any of the others. While on one hand it was flattering to be compared to the beauty of the family, on the other it was disturbing to think that I was not valued for myself, but as a substitute for someone who had died.

Franco had given me a lot to think about.

 

***********************************

(POV Danny)

I went back to pick up Julie after a couple of hours. I was feeling great. The music was set, along with the back-up dancers. I’d rounded up Juan and Brandon, both of whom were in the City, to lead some of the college kids, and Eric and Johnny also managed to work together well enough to fulfill the roles I had for them. I got a major kick out of Eric, as Brian knew I would. He was adorable. Arthur came to the rehearsal I held and snapped picture after picture. I suspected I’d be losing a wall at Diva’s to the kid. Which was more than fine with me.

Brian had arranged...I didn’t even want to know what it cost...for our number to close out the fundraiser. But, in all modesty, I had to say it would be well worth it, for me and the schools. When I left I had my four deputies, plus Miguel and Brian, organizing a group of “extras” into a cohesive dance finale. I had no worries about Julie and me. We’d done this dance dozens of times in the past. All I’d needed was to block off the space, which I’d done. So, we were set.

At least, I thought we were until I got back to D&G and found an incredibly beautiful niece who looked as though her heart had broken...again. She was sitting at a mirror, hair and make-up perfect, stunning dress already on, and I could tell that she was about two minutes from crying her eyes out.

I pulled a chair over and straddled it, and resting my chin on my arms that I folded along the back of the chair. My eyes met hers in the mirror.

“Well, it can’t be how you look that has you sad, Jules as you look absolutely incredible. And I know you know this dance cold. Is it dancing with your old uncle instead of a handsome prince that has you bummed? I can understand if it does, but believe me, your prince will come, some of us just take longer finding the man of our dreams, hell, look at me...I was a long time finding the right guy, but I’m glad I never gave up or settled.”

She smiled wistfully. I hated seeing her so sad. This child of my kindest brother had all of his best traits, and she was very dear to me in her own right. I reached out and brushed a curl back from her cheek.

“Don’t you want to dance with me, ‘baby’?”

“Uncle Danny, do I remind you of Aunt Angel?”

I blinked. “Where did that come from?”

“Is that a yes?” The green eyes so like Briana’s...so like my own...but not like my lost sister’s, looked at me steadily. Franco, I thought. I was going to have to have a talk with him. Resisting the urge to glance at my cell phone to check the time and giving up on any thought of doing at least one run-through of the dance, I got up and gently pulled Julie to her feet, moving us both over to a sofa in the corner of the make-up room.

“That was not a ‘yes’; that was a where in the hell did that question come from, but I deleted the hell part,” I told her as I settled her down next to me, with my arm around her comfortingly. Too bad she was too big to put on my lap. I suspect she could use the cuddling. This was going to have to do.

“Actually, you don’t remind me of Angel at all, rather less than anyone else in the family does who has the trademark curly black hair and green eyes. Although tonight, given the way that Franco has done your hair and make-up, you look somewhat more like she could look, when she was younger. Keep in mind, she was five years older than me, and by the time I came to the City, she was looking her age...very unlike an O’Keefe actually. We make a point of not looking our ages if we can avoid it, love, remember that. Anyway, I never saw her in her prime really. Brian probably remembers her better from those days. I only saw pictures...and the good looks she could still achieve with make-up when she was nearing thirty and was not...healthy. Why do you ask?” I addressed the purely physical appearance as there was no way Julie ever was like Angel in personality.

Julie paused before answering me. I had an idea why she had asked but wanted to see if she would tell me. I hoped she trusted our relationship enough to talk to me if she were bothered by something Franco said but I was realistic enough to accept that she was feeling pretty vulnerable this weekend. The last thing she needed was to question my feelings for her and her value to those around her. .

After gnawing on her lip enough to take off all the lipstick...I made a mental note to take some with us to fix it before we went on-stage... she blurted out, “You didn’t try to replace her with me, did you? For Briana’s sake? I mean, it’s okay if you did...I’d just want to know and ....”

I started shaking my head and she trailed off. I was pretty annoyed with Franco for putting such an idea in her head but I knew he didn’t mean any harm. I knew he intended to discuss eating disorders with her. How the hell he’d gone from that topic to Angel was anyone’s guess...no, actually, self destructive behaviors was probably the link. I sighed heavily.

“Julia, I don’t know how much you remember of your Aunt Angel…” I paused.

She whispered, “Not much which is why I thought maybe if I looked like her, you might have thought I would be a good person for Briana to spend so much time with, so she wouldn’t forget her mom.”

I smiled sadly. “I most certainly wouldn’t have thought any such thing. First of all, I doubt if Briana remembers much of her mom from being around her. Angel didn’t spend as much time with Briana as the nannies did, and secondly, if I thought about you in comparison to Angel, I’d be more likely to think your company was a good thing because you weren’t like Angel, sad as that fact is. I like that you aren’t likely to put Angel down in front of Briana, but there is some truth to what my sisters say. Briana’s worst behavior is reminiscent of her mother. Your calm good humor is very unlike her mother, although it is very like your father. Of course, it’s been pointed out to me by John that I’m not the best example of well balanced behavior either, so it’s doubly good that Briana has your good example. But then, I tell him you’re good for Jared and Josh too.” I grinned at her, hoping to win a smile back.

She did smile slightly, but then looked perplexed. “I thought you adored Angel. Dad always said you were her champion.”

I thought back to the beautiful wild creature who’d been the sister closest to me in age.

“I loved Angel very much. But I hated what she did to herself, and what she did to our parents, and most of all, what she did to Briana. She was cruel to people, often without thinking. She was horrible to Mary Pat, treated her like dirt. Yet, you couldn’t help but forgive her, time after time, because she had so much charm. That, even more than her beauty, was what entranced people. She was like a lovely child even after her looks were largely gone, she could still be the most captivating woman in a room. You would swear she was high even when she’d taken nothing, simply because she enjoyed life so much, and yet, when she was down, nothing could cheer her up. She was probably bi-polar, but unfortunately, she refused to ever get help. She liked her highs too much.”

I sat, looking at the mirror across the room, and seeing the past in my mind’s eye. My beautiful doomed sister. Dancing beautifully for all of five minutes and then losing interest. Just as she did with so many things. Like motherhood.

I turned back to Julie. “Julie, there is a warmth and caring that makes you a far more lovely woman than Angel ever was. You have it in you to be every bit as charming and entrancing as she was, without the empty core. But please, believe me when I say that never have I tried to substitute you for her. I value you for yourself. I loved Angel and I regretted her death for all the promise that was lost. Maybe a part of me will always worry that I could have done more to help her, but I don’t see her in you nor am I trying to relive that time in you in any way. And there is no risk of you ever being like her, since you have a fine head on your shoulders, two sensible parents to help you, including a smart dad as opposed to a pig headed one, and a mother who can listen to her daughters as well as her sons...and you’re pretty smart too. Now, your cousin Johnny, him, I worry about.”

Her eyes were still shining with tears when I glanced down to look.

“Why are you crying?” I asked, lifting her chin gently to make her look in my eyes.

“Because now I am so happy to have such a great uncle it makes me want to cry,” she sniffled, punching me in the arm.

Grinning, we got up and headed out to the dance.
 

***********************************
 

(POV Brian)

The event had been a typical fund-raiser so far, albeit with a better quality performance than a lot of these events manage to put together. Johnny O’Keefe did a song and dance number that was fairly stylish and won kudos from his hard to impress uncle. Then Eric, the other cutie from Juilliard, as Miguel had taken to calling him, did a hot jazz number that was fucking amazing.

“I didn’t know white boys could dance like that,” Juan commented.

“Especially ones from Ohio,” Miguel added.

“Goes to show you shouldn’t pre-judge,” Brandon said primly, his smirk held in check.

“Yeah, good point, if Pittsburgh can produce dancers, why not Ohio,” Miguel drawled.

“Gene Kelly came from Pittsburgh,” Brandon pointed out.

“So did Danny O’Keefe,” Arthur chimed in.

“Speaking of which, can you clowns stop chattering, I think you’re supposed to take your positions soon, aren’t you?” I wanted to be able to concentrate on the dance number that Danny and Julie were going to perform and getting rid of my chattering sidekicks seemed like a good strategy.

Noting that the next to last number was just about done, Juan and Brandon excused themselves to go change. Danny had left about twenty minutes earlier to get into position with Julie. I’d checked her out backstage–she looked fantastic.

Danny had confessed to me once that I played a major part in his developing sexuality, since I was his first “crush” long before he ever fell in love with me. It didn’t really come as a major surprise, since I was the only “out” gay person he knew as a young teen, and as the college roommate of one of his older brothers, I was a safe source of information on all things queer. Plus, if I do say so myself, I was no doubt the hottest guy he’d ever seen. After making that confession, of course, he wanted to know who my first crush was. I admitted only to a celebrity crush, but it was a powerful one, which lasted for years, and I suspect my former trick Dr. Goodfuck would claim it adds to the attraction that Danny holds for me.

I absolutely, beyond a doubt, come in my 501's, lose it for Patrick Swayze in “Dirty Dancing.”

And he’s not bad in “Ghost” either.

When Danny told me he and Julie were doing the dance from “Dirty Dancing” for the benefit, I was ready to underwrite any amount the school requested to get them the final spot. Seeing Danny in the tight black pants and black shirt opened half way down his chest, just like Patrick in the role of Johnny Castle was a wet dream come true.

Soon enough, the strains of the song began, then Danny’s deep voice singing the familiar words, with Julie’s strong mezzo voice joining for a duet. They’d recorded it before the show tonight so they could dance to it in a pace they were familiar with.

The dance was perfect for Danny, his muscular physique similar to Patrick Swayze in his prime, and Julie made an incredibly gorgeous “Baby.” God, I loved that movie...and that actor. And this dancer even more.

The dance was perfect too, for the message that we meant to send tonight. Nobody put this Baby in the corner and nobody, certainly no snot nosed prick named Chad should ever try to put an O’Keefe in the corner. Not when it came to dancing.

Danny and Julie were magical together, and my eyes couldn’t leave them as they moved in perfect synchrony. Danny’s dimples were in flashing and when Julie tipped back her head to laugh, she sparkled with joy. Next to me, Miguel seemed as entranced with her as I was with my dancer. As much as the black outfit flattered Danny’s muscular male build, Julie’s slim figure was set off by the flared white dress that accentuated her slim curves and mile long legs.

I held my breath when the time came for Danny to take the running leap off the stage onto the center aisle, landing strongly, and then dancing on down the aisle. He even continued the dance on his knees as performed by Swayze, doing all of it with his usual flair, bounding up to reach out his arms to Julie. When it came time for him to spin her around above his head, he did so effortlessly, to resounding applause from the entire room.

That was the signal for the others to start grabbing partners from the audience and lead the students in dancing. Brandon, Juan, Eric and Johnny, along with select female dancers that Johnny and Eric had brought into the group, followed Danny and Julie in dancing down the aisle, then the others all took a corner of the room and with Danny and Julie in the center, created a finale that was truly as incredible as the original. Miguel and I did our part to start up the general dancing, but after it was well underway, Miguel whirled near, free of a partner, and cut in, taking me from an elderly professor, flashing one of his megawatt smiles in apology to the old lady.

“Thanks,” I told him as he twirled me away.

“I can do even better,” he said. “How about I take you over to your man and you cut in on Danny while I take Julie?”

I raised an eyebrow. This was interesting.

“Are your intentions honorable?”

He gave me the raised eyebrow look right back. “Always wanted to ask that, huh?”

“Actually, yeah. But I mean it, in this case. She’s what we called a good girl back in my old neighborhood, Miguel.”

“Odd, that’s what we called her kind in my neighborhood too. Plus, she’s Danny’s family, so you don’t need to warn me, Brian, what’s owed to a friend’s female family members. I’m old school in that way. But, that doesn’t mean the poor girl has to take vows, does it?”

I thought about it. In the eyes of some of the O’Keefes that was exactly what it meant, but I wasn’t an O’Keefe. Moreover, I certainly wasn’t going to hold it against Miguel that he was bi-sexual, that would be hypocritical when I was sleeping with a bi-sexual. Former bi-sexual. Hell, Julie’s sex life wasn’t my concern. So why was I thinking about this so hard? Danny would laugh his ass off if he knew I was even having this conversation.

I looked at Miguel ruefully. “For what it’s worth, you have my blessing. Let’s grab our partners before someone else does..”

Julie and Danny were heading off the dance floor. Danny was trying to hide it but I could see that he was starting to limp. Time for him to get home and ice that knee.

As it turned out, someone else did reach our intended dance partners before we did.

“What’s the matter, Julie, your old man not up to the strain after all?”

“Chad the Cad makes a last stand,” Miguel murmured and quickened his pace. I lengthened my stride to keep up.

Danny had just turned around to confront the jerk, an eager look in his eyes, when we reached them. Miguel surprised me by moving forward and wrapping his arms around Julie.

“Bella, you were magnificent! A delight!” He swept her back into his arms and gave her a matinee style kiss, definitely worthy of Cary Grant in his heyday. I stepped over to Danny and cupped the back of his head, giving him a deep, hot kiss.

“Hold that thought for a second, stud,” I told him. “I have something to take care of before we continue this.”

I turned back to Chad, who was staring dumbfounded at the sight of the man who’d rejected him the night before ravishing the girl he’d rejected.

“Chad, I believe?” He looked at me and nodded. I slammed my fist into his jaw and he went down like a...well...like a true cad.

“Never call my lover an old man,” I told the prone figure that lay moaning on the ground.

“Well, that was satisfying,” I told the others. “Ready to head back to the apartment?” I asked Danny.

He smiled. “For the time of my life?”

“I owe it all to you.” I assured him.

We left Julie in Miguel’s safe hands. I felt fairly confident we wouldn’t have any late night visitors. As we headed back to the apartment, I wondered if I could get Danny to reenact some of those dance moves for me?
 

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